Over two acres of Secunderabad land encroached in recent years

SECUNDERABAD: Over two acres of vacant defence land has been encroached in Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) limits in the last four years. Most of them were encroached by slum dwellers and commercial units.
Twenty cases of unauthorised construction or encroachment have come to fore between 2016 and September 2019 in SCB, as per figures tabled in the Lok Sabha on illegal encroachment on vacant defence land.

Officials estimate that close to 35,000 residents have been living in unauthorised constructions on defence lands for decades and said that eviction notices have been sent to concerned parties in the last year.
“After inspections, we had issued eviction notices to more than 600 families in the last one year. However, many moved court seeking relief. We are now awaiting orders on respective cases to initiate action,” a senior SCB official said on condition of anonymity.
Apart from residential complexes, a chunk of defence land is also illegally occupied by street vendors and commercial establishments such as godowns, manufacturing units, function halls, educational institutions etc. This apart, many have also constructed illegal structures on nalas, thereby stopping proper flow of drainage water in the area.
Residents claim that the local military authorities themselves are behind a lot of encroachments. “Classic example is the RK Puram flyover underpass wherein the LMA has built a wall, thereby stopping the flow of traffic. Many roads are encroached with walls and some are converted in golf grounds and others,” said CS Chandrasekhar, secretary, Federation of North-Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, adding that this wouldn’t happen in any other part of the city despite clear orders from the higher authorities.
“It is pertinent to address the issue and the upcoming elections is the right setting to tackle the growing bane of enchroachments,” said Vineet P, a resident of the area.
In many cases, encroachments have come up on boundaries between the SCB and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Residential complexes that are within SCB limits were found to have sought building permits from GHMC and vice-versa.
SCB had also written to the ministry of defence and Telangana government to provide alternative land for slum-dwellers who have occupied defence land. In total, 1065.80 acre of land is under the management of Defence Estates Organisation in Telangana. SCB conducts regular inspections to detect and prevent new encroachments on vacant defence lands.